Message

Five ways to spell confidence

November 1, 2020 by Ian Greig Leave a Comment

The last gathering of Bodenham Christian Fellowship before Lockdown 2 — November 1, 2020

Way in

Is the coronavirus pandemic a wake-up call for us believers? If so, how do we respond?

What is God saying to His Church at this time? How do I understand His purpose and mission?

People are asking questions and opening up to spiritual conversations. What do I say to them?

My approach

I rely on an old-fashioned quiet time each day with the Lord and His word. I BELIEVE what God has said in the Bible, I PERCEIVE how He speaks through it each day, and I RECEIVE fresh wisdom — which might take a little longer to understand. But I receive it anyway.

I take the verse of the day from my Bible app (not a verse of my choosing) and ask the Lord to speak through it. In particular, I ask Him to reveal His Good News in it. Then I write a reflection —- and some of these are published online.

I see a pattern emerging — like a rope of five connected strands, which is what I believe the Lord has been saying to me.
Of course, I can be wrong! So this is to weigh, to see what resonates with you.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28

So briefly here are five words — which are really one word.

1. Hold on to hope

What hope is there, when everything is getting worse?

Let’s start by asking the right question. WHO gives me hope and WHO can I go to, to find help? It’s personal.

The gospel accounts give us the story of Jesus — His coming, His life, His teaching, His death. And resurrected to life again, seen by many before ascending to heaven. He is a person. His teaching, about the kingdom of God, revolves around people and situations. The key is, it’s all about a relationship.

Hundreds of years before Christ, Jeremiah said:

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose HOPE IS the LORD.”
— Jeremiah 17:7

And the apostle John said:

“And everyone who has this hope in Him (who has this hope in Jesus) purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
— 1 John 3:3

Hope — is an abstract word. We can generally substitute the more concrete word CONFIDENCE.
In the Bible, it is more robust still — confidence in a Person and His character. This is God, who we know through Jesus, unchanging, constant, faithful and merciful — and loving beyond ouyr capacity to describe.

A Bible study finds hope used in three ways, which are all relational:

Hope in the Person of the Lord — “in the Lord, in Him”.
Hope in what represents the Lord: His word, His mercy
Hope through the Person of the Holy Spirit in us — “Christ in you, the hope of glory” and “the hope of His calling”. That’s an experience on the inside — we know because we know because we know — and it comes with the witness of joy and peace.

What’s the difference between hope and faith? When you have confidence (hope) in the PERSON, you can believe (faith) the SPECIFIC THING they tell you. The foundation is general — “what I am going to hear is true” — on which can sit a particular word which kindles faith — “what I have heard, I can trust and act on.”

Hold on to hope — our confidence in God’s goodness

2. Be people of praise

The story in Acts 16. The Greek ‘Man from Macedonia’ had appeared to Paul in a dream. They crossed from Troas to the Greek side and the Roman ‘county town’ of Philippi. Lydia the dyer becomes a Christian, along with others. A female slave with an annoying familiar spirit keeps haranguing them and after days of this, Paul commands the Spirit out of her. So she is free but her owners are furious and incite a crowd to demand that the magistrate put them in prison. They are brutally beaten and pinned in stocks.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.
Acts 16:25-26

And James in his letter makes this a teaching…

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
James 1:2ff

Praise celebrates the relationship in ALL circumstances. The relationship doesn’t change!
In Exodus 25:8, God tells Moses to build a sanctuary that “I may dwell among them”. Not a grand building — a tent. It’s not about structure. It is not about form. It’s all about relationship.
God wants to enjoy relationship and live with us — and under the New Covenant in Jesus, IN US. He inhabits the praises of His people, Psalm 22:3.
True praise comes, not by following a rigid religious form, but out of our relationship with Jesus.

Praise invites God’s presence, raises faith — and confuses the enemy. King Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20:21),faced by a huge hoard of combined pagan armies that were about to overrun the city, had praise singers go out in front of the army.

Praise went into battle first. The modest army, following, found a defeated enemy
Praise changes us — from fear to faith. It did for Jehoshaphat and his people. It did for Paul and Silas. It. does for us.

Be people of praise, the expression of confidence in God’s goodness

3. Declare His kingdom, bless His people

Do we have power to confer God’s blessing?

The best-known prayer in the Bible includes these phrases:

“Hallowed be Thy name!

“Thy kingdom come!”

“Thy will be done!”

These are declarations which should have exclamation marks, because they are written as imperatives, not as generally understood, petitions.

We declare with our spiritual authority in Christ Jesus.
Declaring the kingdom is a way of speaking out blessing.

Part of forgiveness — commanded by Jesus

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Luke 6:27-28 NIV and Romans 12:14

(Story about assisting a bishop to bless a new war memorial with holy water)

How much more we of the royal priesthood can bless with our new life in Jesus and Spirit-led words!

More general instance where Jesus says harvest is great but workers few… the mission of the 72… the very first thing is:

“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’” (Luke 10:5)

Not words “kingdom” or “bless” but that is happening
Inviting God’s order and experience of His goodness.
People who begin to see God can believe in Him.

Everyone is anxious — what is the exit strategy? They need God’s peace and God’s assurance.

Our confidence in God speaks peace to others

4. Live in God’s love and compassion

God is love, God is good — but the world doesn’t know that.
The religious world is also unsure — it wants to appease God through a variety of actions.
But God simply wants to dwell with us knowing Him, and knowing His love.

We read in the prologue to John’s gospel:

“He was not born by the joining of human parents or from natural means, or by a man’s desire, but He was born of God. And so the Living Expression became a man and lived among us — became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood.”

And we gazed upon the splendour of His glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father, overflowing with tender mercy and truth!”
John 1:13-14 The Passion Translation and The Message

We can agree with the Scripture which says: “We gazed”— we have seen this.

We have seen Jesus, who is the complete and perfect representation of God.

“…The Son of God has come, and He has GIVEN US UNDERSTANDING so that we CAN KNOW the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ.”

“… The Son of God has made our understanding come alive so that we can know by experience the One who is true.”
TPT

That’s how it works. We turn to Jesus and make a decision to receive Him into our hearts as Saviour and as Lord. And something happens… now we see what we didn’t see before — our understanding comes alive.

Formerly, God was remote, even austere. Now we know Him, and we know His love. So we can live in this love, and therefore we can love others.

Confidence in God is confidence in His love and compassion

5. Meet God in His mission

“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”
1 Peter 3:15 NIV

“If someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it…” NLT

As we hold on to hope, as we choose to praise God in the face of the enemy, declare “His kingdom come!” and in God-given confidence, speak His blessing over others — and as we live in the love and goodness of God: people are going to come to us with their questions.

We have something, they don’t have. Pandemic is like a traffic jam of bureaucracy and blame and rising anxiety — and we are the ones like police cars going up the hard shoulder, with the authority to take another route.
This is the route of hope in God — the confident way through. Everyone will want this route!

This is our opportunity to gently explain about God’s grace, giving us what we did not earn or deserve, and the joy of knowing Jesus and having that inner peace and confidence in God.

We know the One who has the exit strategy! We can praise His goodness, whatever it looks like where we are.

It’s not difficult to turn to God. Helps if someone who has done that, shows you which way to turn!

When people are turning to God, receiving His peace? Revival!

Out of this affliction, making churches re-think what they are about, and Christian believers stand up for who they believe in, God is bringing awakening, fuelled by our prayer and praise.

Time for us to put our confidence in Him to work and join Him in His mission. Whether physical healing, spiritual deliverance or gracious forgiveness leading to eternal life, salvation is what God is always doing.

Our confidence in God is also confidence to join Him in His mission

Message shared with Bodenham Christian Fellowship, Nov. 1, 2020

Talk to who you know

October 6, 2020 by Ian Greig Leave a Comment

Why do bad things happen to good people, and what can they do?

Verse

The righteous person faces many troubles, but the LORD comes to the rescue each time.
— Psalm 34:19 NLT

Good News — in a nutshell

To be right with God is a fundamental, quality decision we make, not something we try to attain. Jesus has made a way for any of us to fully acknowledge who He is and what He has done, a spiritual rebirth that presents us to God as if we had never done wrong — acquitted. And when we know God like that, we can call out for rescue, knowing that He hears us.

Reflection

The old, old question is “why do bad things happen to ‘good’ people?”

And the answer is, that we live in a fallen world, much of which is under the influence of the devil, who is called in the Bible ”the prince of this world”.

When He [the Advocate, the Holy Spirit ] comes, He will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment… we about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. — John 16:8-11 NIV

Earlier, Jesus had used this description of the devil to explain how his grip was to be broken:

Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. — John 12:31 NIV

Who does the driving out? Everyone who knows this truth! Christians standing together in praise and prayer, who know their authority to say ‘no’ to the devil and his schemes.

When a storm blows in, everyone feels its force. If you are counted among what some call ‘the great and the good’ of society, living in the big house with tall chimneys and its outlook of mature trees, the storm might cause you more damage than the tenant living in the lodge at the end of the drive!

Troubles come to all of us — that’s part of life. But who can you go to, for help in them? That is the defining difference.

The Jews, and the Pharisees in particular, saw being righteous very much in terms of obedience. It is a narrow Old Testament mind set, and one that Jesus challenged, and continues to challenge today — the teaching in our churches can often be more about ‘doing’ right (or not doing wrong), than encouragement about ‘being’ right with God.

Paul, educated as a Pharisee, understood the trap of this religious thinking, but he had also experienced new life and freedom from it. He taught in his letters:

As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one…” — Romans 3:10
Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God…

But the good news is, Jesus has secured a very special privilege for those who believe in Him. And that is the key — a changed heart that has received Jesus as Saviour and honours Him as Lord.

As Paul continues in this teaching, showing the complementary strand:
…because “the righteous will live by faith.” — Galatians 3:11 NIV

If a travelling salesman at the county show was selling this, they would be shouting it out: it is an amazing benefit, direct from heaven, a unique and never-to-be-repeated offer which takers will never, ever regret — all at the modest cost of believing in Jesus and surrendering to Him our pride and independence.

Unlike many things sold by persuasion, it happens to be true!

Jesus the righteous Son of God, who was without sin, went to the shameful, horrific cross of execution on our behalf. The penalty He bore was not for His sin — there wasn’t any. It was the heavy weight of our sin, past, present and future. By giving our lives to Jesus, our messy, not-righteous lives become bound up in Jesus’ righteousness, and we are counted as forgiven, made right, and worthy to be received to have fellowship with God, the all-holy and Almighty One.

He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. — Titus 3:5 ESV

For our sake He [God] made Him [Jesus] to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in Him [Jesus] we might become the righteousness of God. — 2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

In Jesus we become something we could never attain to by ourselves, not through any amount of effort or religious devotion.

And that simple but deeply profound fact changes everything when danger threatens, or fears take over our thoughts, or we hit unforeseen circumstances.

Behind every fact-of-life trouble there is a spiritual dimension: the devil is trying to steal something from us. So what happens when we call on God for help, coming to Him as those who know and love Jesus? Facing the thief is the person of Jesus, reminding him of the victory of the Cross, with us on earth saying our bit and agreeing with Him.

As The Passion Translation puts it, “Even when bad things happen to the good and godly ones, the Lord will save them and not let them be defeated by what they face.”

Take away

When trouble finds its way to you, who will you talk to first?
When your friend or neighbour shares a difficulty, how will this teaching equip you to give them the encouragement they need?

Link

For a prayer based on this Scripture and reflection, go over to this page on https://glowweobley.com

Knowing where to look for God’s guidance

August 18, 2020 by Ian Greig Leave a Comment

Verse

I set my heart on Your precepts and pay close attention to all Your ways. My delight is found in all Your laws, and I won’t forget to walk in Your words. Psalms 119:15-16 TPT

Good news

God is constantly revealing Himself, especially through different dimensions of His word. That’s how He speaks to us, personally, as His children, as we listen.

NOTES

Precepts
Principles. Covenants that require our willingness. Kingdom principles e.g. as taught by the parables of Jesus

Ways
Demonstration from examples

Laws
Foundational commands like 10 Commandments, Great Commandment etc

Words
God’s ‘now’ word for me

REFLECTION

What is our compass to guide us through life? It depends where our hearts and values are.

If you live in a village, the traditions and committees and clubs of that self-contained community may well be the values you live by. And they may be considerate and good — they have been ‘proved’ over a long period.

Our need to belong

In a town or city there is more of a sense of ‘being in the flow’ of what others are doing. There is peer pressure from those you work with, commute with, follow fashion with.

For a young person without strong ties to family or school, a gang may be the way of belonging. In ethnic communities, the laws of that minority culture, its related families and religion often dictate behaviour and stifle any individual aspiration to grow beyond those confines.

Everyone has a need to belong. The need to belong and be accepted in a local community can be the overruling factor — it’s part of our security.

God’s kind of belonging

God wants us to belong (in a good way — the loyalty of a slave offset by the freedom and honour of a son) and His kingdom community is protective, supportive, nurturing — and eternal. It also guides us into what works. But this is a choice — to give greater regard to belonging to God and listening to what He says, than other traditions or affinities that want to ‘own’ us.

God’s precepts, laws, ways and words overlap, but there are differences.

Laws are foundational, like the Ten Commandments or the Great Commandment of Jesus to love God and love others.
Precepts are principles like covenants where there is a partnership involved, needing our active participation.
God’s ways are what we learn from the whole of Scripture and Scripture’s commentary on itself, and the record of salvation history and more recent church history illustrates the tension between God’s ways and man’s ways.
God’s words are how we hear Him day by day. God is always speaking, and His Holy Spirit in us will often ‘lift’ a verse that was originally spoken or written for people centuries ago, a different time and context, and bring it to us with fresh meaning.

Fresh bread for today

God’s ‘now’ word is God’s fresh bread for today, and it’s something we all desire. It’s part of the reason — if we are honest, maybe quite a big part of the reason — we attend church, possibly take part in a small group — and read the Bible for ourselves. It’s not the only way God speaks to us but it is His number one way, and all other ways are checked out by it. Because it is fresh bread, we delight in it and pay close attention to it — together with the more enduring forms of revelation God has given us in His law and precepts and His ways, brought into sharp focus by Jesus.

TAKE AWAY

A free account with Tecarta.com gives different versions of the Bible to compare (NIV and NLT are two of the best, accurate, contemporary-language Bibles available). You can receive their verse of the day — the source of many of these reflections. But many people prefer to read, and mark, and add notes to, their printed Bible.

LINK

For a prayer based on this verse and theme, head over to www.glowweobley.com and
this page

What does God think?

August 5, 2020 by Ian Greig 1 Comment

Gold bullion — Image credit: Wikipedia/Apollo2005

How to focus on God’s thoughts for a change

VERSE
How precious to me are Your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand — when I awake, I am still with you. Psalm 139:17–18 NIV

SUMMARY

Once we have become friends with God through Jesus, we have a conversation going with Him. But a listening attitude is important if we are going to hear His voice — not pretending we know best. Agreeing that His thoughts are precious is a good way of seeking His wisdom for our lives.

Conversation with God

Some people are better at conversation than others. A couple of things that are the mark of every good conversationalist, are the ability to ask good conversational questions, which empower the response of others… and listening to them.

And one of the most common of those empowering phrases is: “What do you think? Or the variant, “What did you think of…?”

People find it easy (too easy, sometimes) to give their opinion, and asking for their opinion is honouring. God doesn’t need our help in conversation… or does He? He speaks all the time. But like the quiet participant in a noisy group, He doesn’t always have opportunity to say what He thinks, to give His perspective.

“What do You think? What are You saying, about what is on my mind?” In conversation generally, we need to draw out the quiet person. We have to show that we are listening. We have all been trapped in situations where no one is listening and we don’t see any point in putting forward a view just to be shouted down.

Does God struggle with our strong opinions and prejudices? Because it is as if we don’t care about His perspective.

Have you ever tried to participate in a conversation where you held the high ground in terms of knowledge or experience, but no one would listen? They were all too busy offering their theories, over-assertive as people who are unsure of themselves often are. It’s like a hospital doctor trying to help someone who is full of having consulted “Dr Google”, or a traffic cop trying to talk down gently someone three times over the limit.

That can be our approach to God, which blocks His wisdom and disrespects His all-seeing, all-knowing higher perspective.

When we agree “How precious to me are YOUR thoughts” we are putting ourselves in the right place to listen.

How does God share His thoughts with us? The first way is through His word. Often He draws our attention to what He has already said, and giving it a sense of how it applies to us. So to make this prayer approach, we need a Bible (or online Bible or app) ready.

God is always speaking and the second way is by an impression in our spirit. Occasionally this can be so strong that it is almost audible, but often it is more of a whisper. We’ll need to check it out in the word — He never contradicts Himself — but God also uses the principle of “two or three witnesses”, in other words, He repeats Himself and uses more than one avenue. When we are hearing the same thing from slightly different sources, this gives us confidence to believe what God is saying.

The third way is through other people who love Him and hear Him. It could be a Christian friend, a preacher, or through spiritual gifts.

“How precious are Your thoughts” is a way of asking for God’s wisdom. James, in his letter, says we should ask but should not doubt what we hear, but act on it James 1:5–8.

It all starts with our relationship with Him. This needs to be the Jesus kind of relationship, the personal belief and trust and connection. This is how we count His thoughts precious and receive them as life-giving.

Prayer

O God, Your thoughts are precious, of incomparable value by the measure of man’s wisdom. You see all, understand all, and know the end from the beginning.

Help me to be a hearer and a doer of Your Word ((James 1:5–8)). Where my thoughts crowd in — my anxieties and doubts, my wrong judgments and the opinions I proudly uphold‚ forgive me, help me to quiet my soul and — to make space for You to speak and me to hear.

My way too often proves to be no way, but Your way is life and salvation. Your words are like gold ((Psalm 12:6)) and taste sweeter than honey ((Psalm 119:103)).

Thank You, holy and Almighty God, that You delight in speaking to me as I come to You in Jesus. Amen.

Take away

Find a time and place to be quiet. It could be at home, out for a walk, even driving the car — or a quiet spot in a church building.
List your most pressing concerns — the thoughts You are full of — and park them with God.
Commit the listening time to Him, ask the Holy Spirit to help you and read the Scriptures mentioned again. And note down whatever God shows you, whether it seems to make sense or not.
Be open to God speaking to you subsequently and give you confirmations, like Scriptures that go with what you sense you are hearing. To share this with a pastor or trusted Christian friend can be very helpful.

Know what’s going on in the spiritual realm

July 31, 2020 by Ian Greig Leave a Comment

Spiritual realm: image credit: Ian Greig

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.
1 Corinthians 16:13 NIV

Paul doesn’t end his letter to the church in Corinth with a cheery “Keep up the good work” but something Churchill could have said in 1940 when threat of invasion was all the talk.

What are we standing firm against?

If we agree that this is God’s word and therefore timeless, speaking to us today as it did to believers in the first century, what are we standing firm against and on our guard to challenge?

Our world is bigger than our everyday lives, what the BBC defines as news, and the government and institutions.

The spiritual realm — and added dimension

We are spiritual people, enlivened by the Holy Spirit, belonging to a Saviour and Lord who doesn’t live in a building and who is not recognised when He makes an appearance. For us, there is a spiritual dimension that has a considerable bearing on our lives and communities, both for good and for evil.

Occasionally in the Bible someone has a visitation from an angel, or an impression of one in a dream or vision. Abraham had some signpost moments like this and Jacob was injured in a wrestling match with an angel. Joshua was given detailed instruction by an angel before the conquest of Jericho. Isaiah encountered an angel as part of his call to speak to the hard-hearted. Joseph received vital direction from an angel three times. Angels at the tomb announced Christ’s resurrection, others reminded the disciples of Jesus’ return, and sprang Peter from prison ((Genesis 32:22-32; Joshua 5:13-15; Isaiah 6:6-7; Matthew 1:20-21, 2:13, 19-20; Matthew 28:1-10; Acts 1:11, Acts 12:6-10))

What does this tell us? That these people of giant faith were specially chosen to be visited?

Step back a moment and consider what is happening. Even if angels do appear to specially favoured people (some were, some were not) this mainly tells us that what is happening in the heavenlies, needs to be communicated to someone on earth… to the person who needed to know God’s strategy at that time.

What happens in heaven is not divided from what happens on earth
The heavenly realm is mostly unseen. That does not make it unreal

We have a real, active and vindictive enemy — completely real in Jesus experience and teaching — out to to spoil what he can get his hands on. He and his demons inhabit the spiritual realm unseen, and prey on our thoughts and lives where we are

We also have help from the heavenly realm, accessible to us because we can ask for it through Jesus. And that’s the point of this verse, this closing reminder from Paul:

“Be on your guard“
“Stand firm in faith“
“Be courageous“
“Be strong“

He is saying, don’t forget the battle that is going on over every righteous Jesus-centred action you take. Thoughts as well! And so expect some push-back — but stand firm and don’t give in to it.

This is different from the gentle church-orientated religion many of us were brought up in. Those four instructions are not gentle. And this is not about church, so much as the One who said “I will build My church“.

He will. And He does it in partnership with us — as we stay alert and on our guard, spiritually.

For a prayer about this, see this post on GLOW.